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Michigan Covenanters Celebrate Two New Churches
GRAND RAPIDS, MI (October 11, 2006) – More than 150 members of different Evangelical Covenant Church congregations participated in a festive Sunday evening “blessing service” at First Covenant Church, celebrating two new church plants in the city.
They came to celebrate the first Hispanic Covenant congregation, Esperanza (Hope) Covenant Church, and LifeChurch, which also is a Covenant church. Tom Ivens will pastor Esperanza and Steven Faulk will pastor LifeChurch.
During the evening, worship bands from each of the churches led the congregation in singing, including several songs in Spanish. Both pastors also shared their visions for the new churches.
 In the audience were attendees from First Covenant, Thornapple Covenant, Fellowship Covenant, Fruitland Covenant, Forest Park Covenant in Muskegon, Bella Vista Church of Rockford, and Tabernacle Community Church of Grand Rapids.
First Covenant, which is planting Esperanza and is partnering with other congregations to plant LifeChurch, has planted three other Grand Rapids area congregations: Thornapple, Redeemer, and Fellowship.
Ivens is the former pastor of Primera Iglesia Del Pacto Bell in Bell Gardens, California. The congregation will meet at First Covenant and has a core group of about 20 people. Its first preview service will be held November 5.
Esperanza already has teamed with Thornapple Covenant, another First Covenant plant, to provide 170 backpacks filled with school supplies to youth from low-income families, says Larry Sherman, assistant superintendent of the Great Lakes Conference.
Eighteen percent of the Grand Rapids population is now Hispanic, and the city is the tenth largest destination for Hispanic immigrants, Sherman says. Eighty percent of those immigrants are from Mexico.
In addition to First Covenant, four other congregations are partnering to financially support LifeChurch: Thornapple, Fruitland Covenant of Whitehall, Harbert Community Covenant, and Faith Covenant of Manistee.
One family has moved from Manistee, which is located across the state, to help with the plant. The church has a core group of about 50 individuals and held its first preview service October 1 with 97 people in attendance.
Faulk’s parents, Lydia and Bud (a retired Covenant pastor), are helping plant the church. Faulk formerly was an associate pastor at Faith Covenant in Farmington Hills.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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